De La Soul,The Grind Date (2005)

One could indeed say that the "Stakes Is High" for De La's newest album. Being that this is their first offering since 2001's decent but not classic AOI:Bionix, it was theorized that this could be the album where De La fell off. Thankfully this is not the case, the Plugs have returned with another solid album. Things get poppin' with the intro/first track "The Future" which opens with one of the plugs saying "the past the past the future the future" which gets really annoying after a minute, but all is forgiven when the beat kicks in and the plugs start flowing. Musically J.Dilla comes correct as has become the standard, with some strings and kicks. The beat is simplistic, but does its job in giving De La a canvas to paint over. "The Future" is followed by the old school boom-bap of "Verbal Clap" and Jake One's soul samples on "Much More". Both of these tracks are solid if not groundbreaking. Directly afterward we have Madlib's avant-garde dancefloor stylings,with De La decrying the evils of being ensnared by manipulative women. "Shopping Bags" works as both a concept track and as a club banger, and leads into the album's title track, which lyrically to me is dope but musically doesn't impress. This is probably the only skip-button fodder on the album. Next up is the neo-soul laced "Church" and the struggle anthem "It's Like That", which again are solid and mature but not the most innovative thing I've ever heard. Next up is "He Comes", probably the best track on the album with the plugs trading rhymes with Ironman himself Ghostface Killah over Jake One's dope horns and chopped drums. Common and Flava Flav's guest appearances on "Days Of Our Lives" and "Come On Down" don't fail to impress, and both of these tracks are musically on point if not masterpieces. After that we have "No" which isn't neccesarily bad,but the beat sound almost too poppy and sweet, like something off Nickelodeon. The album closes on a high note on "Rock. Co.Kane. Flow",with Hip-Hops illest villain MF DOOM spitting flames with the Plugs over a Deliverance sample.
Overall this is a solid album, with only one truly skip-worthy track and a slew of dope guest appearances. De La Soul proves that they can still be relevant to today's Hip-Hop community while staying true to their roots.


8 out of 10 Snickers Bars

Worth The Cheddar:Yeah